Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides.
Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on
the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will need to join the MOA before you can post: click this register link to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

I know it is a Monday. The Dealership is closed. ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō is sitting 600 miles from here, should I say ‘«£a blown engine‘«ō? That is basically what it is! Yes, after spending days changing a clutch and a rear main engine seal. different department! Till this morning, as the expression says, I did not know if I was coming or going. Trying to regroup. Yet, our good fortune tagged right along with us. We limped right into Sandia's BMW Motorcycle Service door! Our Presentation was the next day. They bend backwards and so quickly determined what was wrong. Everything. ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō gave it her last breath to take us there. That in itself was amazing. More good Karma as within a couple days a Friend living near by gave us a drive back here to ‘«£The Oasis‘«ō where we are waiting, unpacking what has been thrown in the car, repacking to hopefully go back soon and continue our Journey. A new engine has been found, 2 years younger and with only 30,000 miles! Will this give us another 250,000 miles to go? Hoping and projecting. It was bound to finally happen, Nothing lasts forever and I am so thankful all is falling nicely together even though my emotions are at their highest. The Presentation went very well to a full packed house... More on that the next time. The backroads to Albuquerque... Enjoy this new entry.

I have to be so glad all this is happening now and not within a hot and dry Desert while isolated and miles away from civilization. ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō awaits in Albuquerque. She is in good hands at Sandia BMW Motorcycles, she has the best mechanic taking care of her while a replacement engine is on it's way. 2 years newer, with only 30,000 miles on her, it is as a new heart is being transplanted without loosing her Soul. Yet, it has been strange, specially the first few days. Amazing how a ‘«£machine‘«ō can develop such a Soul which when not together leaves an empty daily space.

Regardless, our ‘«£Presentation‘«ō went on real well, the slide show mixed in with a couple of ‘«£Spirit's Videos‘«ō [of course!], narration of a few close to my Heart destinations, mixing in a bit with tips also throughout the Tech Session that followed, all I must say was entertaining as we also made some new Friends. Standing room only, the hour went by fast as ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō was rolled in into the room. I think she also enjoyed the time present with so many.
We should be rolling a week from today... should be as the new engine is being dropped off on Monday. Packing and on our way tomorrow on a slow pace this time exploring more of those back roads around Albuquerque. 55 being one of them.

Sometimes it happens as in a few years ago when arriving in Big Bend and Terlingua. There is an indescribable sensation that penetrates one's inner senses and makes it all happen, happen as ‘«£I would like to spend some serious time here...‘«ō. That is what ‘«£Carrizozo‘«ō did to me while after leaving ‘«£Valley of Fire‘«ō [NM] to come into town when my stove lost a part. Will see... might be a good space for next winter.
In the meantime we are circling ‘«£Mountainer‘«ō having accepted the hospitality of new Friends and tomorrow is ‘«£on the way to again Albuquerque‘«ō to saddle up with ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō.
‘«£Sandia BMW Motorcycles‘«ō in Albuquerque I must say has done everything possible for us to get rolling without much delay. Quite a task I must considering installing a new engine and the intricacies of reinstalling the sidecar. A bit more complicated on the GS [R1100] while there is not front frame and engine bolts are forward the main supports.
Seems as it has been an eternity. Seems. Will not be that much longer till the three of us again are reunited and rolling, this time toward Arizona.Enjoy ‘«£Carrizozo‘«ō photos. There will be more.

This vast space has touched us. Carrizozo is till fresh in my mind, the quaint feel and friendliness of the locals, the proximity of so many new roads, all makes me want to make it an ‘«£Oasis‘«ō for us next winter. Will see! Maybe. As everything else on this Journey of ours. ‘«£Chaco Canyon‘«ō where we also spend a few days, well, none has yet sank in due to the enormity of what we encountered. The past remains of a Culture so intense, the many dwellings standing and preserved from an era when yet ‘«£metal tools‘«ō where just not around.

‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō is up and running. The anticipation of the repairs dollar amount was a shock, of course, like everything else, yet, it has been done right and can only hope many new miles are in store ahead of us.
To compound it all however half of our camping gear has been stolen from one night in Albuquerque, simply lifted off ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō, another shock, another setback.
Sometimes the skies open up and the storms drop to no end. That is how it right now feels as we try to move on toward Flagstaff. Check out our Merchandise section...Enjoy the photos, the roads. On we go for more... Trying!

Unusually have not been here in a while. A couple entries on the Journal, the one before last with many more Photos of "Chaco Canyon".Between playing hide and seek with some return and sending oil hoses which were wrong four times [outside vendor], picking up then ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō to ride it and trust it, moving on here to the ‘«£Mormon Lake‘«ō area near Flagstaff, Spirit a bit under the weather with a Vet that wanted a series of expensive tests... Life on the road seems to finally lighten up for a breather before Overland Expo starting in a couple of days.
I had no idea this area is so beautiful and plentiful of unpaved but very well maintained roads. Cool weather throughout the days, cold as we [at least I !!!] like it.
I am slowly trusting this new [for us] engine, the feel is different, stronger of course with only it's 30,000 miles.
There will be a big crowd at Overland Expo, many Friends we only see once a year, some maybe twice. Lots of cooking, chatting, giving a ‘«£One~Pan‘«ō cooking Class for all the three days. Traveling without refrigeration as we do... simple and clean and good.
There will be I am sure many photos from all attending vehicles, maybe a couple videos, the area is huge. Much excitement ahead I must say...
Till next time. Enjoy the Photos from ‘«£Mountainair‘«ō all the way to ‘«£Mormon Lake‘«ō including ‘«£Pie-Town‘«ō.

The dust has settled from days amongst an Epic wave of vehicles, people, Friends camping with, names which now have faces, dogs, classes, movies and more as I am sure I am forgetting something. Cooking! This Year's Overland Expo was larger than ever, it was an amazing array with everyone present living a common denominator : The Outdoors.
We had arrived early, amazed with the Coconino National Forest and it's hundreds of miles of well maintained unpaved roads and the bonus of some very cool weather. I always feel so ignorant as with in past years ‘«£Big Bend‘«ō, this stage also was a big green space on the map I had never quite paid much attention to.
Such discovery always makes me smile when I am asked at times ‘«£so what are you going to do when you are done?‘«ō. One is never done, only rests a few days as it was last weekend.
We are now on our way to Colorado in search for more such roads, elevation and cool weather. It is there awaiting.
Enjoy the many Photos of some truly incredible vehicles. There will be more, the camera did not rest too long.

The dust has settled from this past weekend amongst a sea of many Souls everyone on the path of their own direction. Ours will take off tomorrow when we head North for months seeking more beauty, calm days, cooler weather and if lucky isolated spaces with a creek. I know it is awaiting for us. Faith in Life within this direction taken. I am thinking about backtracking a bit and heading out through New Mexico to experience the "Bisti Badlands" if the heat does not chase us away. It has been a bit of a numb week following all the recent past excitements. My sleeping bag has been replaced as also cooking stove and miscellaneous items. As more time goes on I feel as cutting back more and more the luggage volume. Devising different scenarios. Who needs all this! Simplicity is always so much less to try lug around. Anything we have not used for a year or more. Yet, Murphy's Law might prove to the contrary as soon as leaving some items behind. Who was Murphy?
More Photos of Overland Expo on the Journal. Enjoy.

This is the time, the months, these precious moments when being in between four walls with a nice wifi connection is truly rare. These are the times chasing cool weather at high elevations meaning lost on some dirt road opening into a meadow reflecting the blue skies staging the pure and white clouds chasing each other. Sometimes blended with grays by the end of the days. Once in a while, as today, we find us a nice Library as here in ‘«£Lake City‘«ō, Colorado, and the communication again opens up, catching up on the well being of others, of Friends and acquaintances. I am seeing and feeling Colorado as never before. Maybe as every year that goes by new senses develop? I don't remember the colors so bright and so intense. I don't remember seeing so many unpaved roads going right and left. Posts keep going up on our Journal, we do have a great Webmaster, he makes it so easy for us. New Photos, thoughts, that is what these past years have been about... many thoughts. Maybe too many.
Talk soon and be well... we will be in Colorado for a while, the price of fuel is not much of our Friend lately!

The heat wave is following us or is it we are falling into it's heated arms? 100 +/- in Colorado Springs were we have stopped for a few days catching up on mail and errands. I feel as they should have a Weather Map for the Country indicating any regions under 70 degrees daytime. Not wanting to be stuck on a Peak we will probably soon move on North, a couple more days here it will be.
In the meantime we did spend a few days around Lake City and on down to Blue Mesa Reservoir and Salida to replace a passed away ‘«£will join the pile of dead electronics somewhere on Earth‘«ō smart phone.
I don't know why I seem to have lost a bit of stability. Maybe just have not found yet this space which will talk back to us and invite us to remain a bit longer than we have lately.
‘«£Father's Day‘«ō has not helped neither these past days. Seemingly, the better the memories, the harder present times are.
I feel as we need a fresh start. Summertime and the roads await, we will find those empty spaces appealing to the senses. They are there and as before, they will be ‘«£here‘«ō. A couple entries: ‘«£Postcards from Colorado‘«ō and ‘«£Salida. CO‘«ō.

Elevation is what we have been seeking, without the crowd and the heat. We found it a bit passed Landers and Dubois, an unpaved road (515) going up to one of the most beautiful scenic Lake we have been able to camp on it's shores. Today the snow has almost melted, but for a few days having to walk on it to get to our tent, well, it is the end of June and ‘«£what a feeling!‘«ō. We are avoiding Yellowstone and the Tetons, no need for us to get caught in miles and miles of traffic jams because of a squirrel crossing the path. There are dozens of ‘«£off shoots‘«ō from the main road, I think we are taking roots here exploring the vast neighborhood. After all, we do live on the road, we are not traveling.
It is going to be a ‘«£hot and dry‘«ō I keep hearing. The valleys are indeed warmer than we like it and so was Colorado Springs feeling as an oven. We only lasted three nights with some good Friends, we lasted one night in Landers with more good friends.
‘«£Mother Nature's‘«ō little self made spaces is what we always seek... and find.Enjoy Brooks Lake and it's surroundings.

No lack of excitement these days. Staying above 9000 feet, trying to and leaving only when Mother Nature decides to throw in her own Fireworks. Spectacular I must say when witnessing Mountains blowing up at Brooks Lake. A little Parade in a little town called Dubois, a Rodeo in another little town called Lander, all this is taking place in Wyoming. Brooks Lake up to the moment when the Mountain erupted only 9 miles from us has been one of the best space found with cool temperatures and many off chute roads we yet have to ride them all. Snow was even present when we arrived. I saw it as free ice even !
Tomorrow starts another leg in the Journey. Salem, Oregon to pick up... ( another surprise for now!) and on to Leavenworth, Washington, for a couple cooking Classes with the combined efforts of Snow Peak and Overland Journal.
One day at the time. Schedules? Never... We try not to anyhow. Enjoy the photos of our past days.

The stage has been #20 ~ #26 westbound toward Salem. Rural Americana with it's rustic remainders of now almost defunct villages and the farmlands adorning the shoulders mixed in with the entrances and exits of the various National Forests. As sad a bit such little villages are today as I could only guess from the faded storefront signs of their previous wealth, they provide a slice of History never found in books or pamphlets. The price of today's now as an antique standing tall fuel pump denotes the year when slowly the main street folded giving way maybe to a bypass or just the fact of a new generation leaving for the big town where the jobs might be more rewarding.
‘«£Sublimity‘«ō, ‘«£Gates‘«ō, ‘«£Idanha‘«ō, ‘«£Unity‘«ō, ‘«£Prineville‘«ō, ‘«£Sweet Home‘«ō...
We stop when the old oaks have enough shade to cover us from the hot sun for Spirit and I to stand all alone within the silence of a non existent traffic and just be, sometimes often still hearing the noises of the past glamor today vanished.
We could have spend weeks covering such short distances, but we had to be as we are right now in Salem awaiting for "Terra Explorer‘«ō. A surprising turn of events for us as seemingly this Journey has always brought on.More Photos on the Journal... Enjoy.

From crate to finish. 3 mechanics, 3 days. Welding, cutting, bolting on, soldering, so many hours customizing this road worthy hack. We have already spend a couple days in the Detroit Mountains taking on roads [if they are so called...] where ‘«£Old Faithful‘«ō would have not adventured herself. Reverse and two wheel drive when needed are such a beautiful thing. #1 in it's custom production this will be a premiere Overlanding vehicle. Is. Truly.
After such days in Salem, having the ability to disappear for a few days was a welcome gesture throughout these present times as now, this morning, we are on our way to Leavenworth, WA, for 3 days of Classes. ‘«£One~Pan‘«ō cooking with the presence of ‘«£Snow Peak‘«ō and ‘«£Overland Journal‘«ō. Sunday will be over and we will then start the slow drop to Tucson while we house sit a couple weeks and then on to Munich and spend another couple weeks with my Mother.
For such as us who have never a schedule I keep wondering ‘«£what happened?‘«ō.
It is all good though...More photos on the Journal. An amazing progression.